Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
US Buys More Moderna Vaccine, Planning Ahead For Kids' Shots, Boosters
Axios: U.S. Buys 200 Million Additional Doses Of Moderna’s COVID Vaccine
The Biden administration has purchased an additional 200 million doses of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine, the biotech company announced Wednesday. Moderna and the Biden administration say the additional doses could be used to vaccinate children or — if necessary — as a booster shot. (Knutson, 6/16)
Fox News: CDC Panel To Discuss COVID-19 Vaccination, Rare Heart Issues
Reports of heart inflammation among a small fraction of Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine recipients, predominantly males under 30, are under review as an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to meet Friday to further discuss the issue. Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the Immunization Safety Office at the CDC, noted 275 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis among vaccinated males aged 16-24 as of May 31 against a backdrop of over 12 million administered doses. While younger groups aged 12-24 accounted for nearly 9% of all administered doses, the group comprised over half (52.5%) of 528 reports relating to heart issues across all age groups. (Rivas, 6/16)
In other news —
Politico: Trump Rails Against Covid Vaccines For ‘Very Young People’
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday railed against Covid-19 vaccines for school-aged children, falsely making his point by saying that young people — though he didn’t specify which ages — were “not affected or affected badly” by the coronavirus. Trump’s claims in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday night come as older Americans have been vaccinated against Covid at high rates in the U.S. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration said Pfizer’s Covid shot could be given to children 12-15 years old — making it the first vaccine available for Americans under 16. Vaccine manufacturers and regulators are now turning their attention to making sure shots are safe and effective for younger children. (Ward, 6/16)
KHN: Not All Experts Are Ready To Vaccinate Kids Against Covid
Lucien Wiggins, 12, arrived at Tufts Children’s Hospital by ambulance June 7 with chest pains, dizziness and high levels of a protein in his blood that indicated inflammation of his heart. The symptoms had begun a day earlier, the morning after his second vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shot. For Dr. Sara Ross, chief of pediatric critical care at the Boston hospital, the event confirmed a doubt she’d been nursing: Was the country pushing its luck by vaccinating children against covid at a time when the disease was relatively mild in the young — and skepticism of vaccines was frighteningly high? (Allen, 6/17)
And other vaccine development news —
Stat: AMA Delegates Vote To Support Controversial Covid-19 IP Waiver
The American Medical Association delegates voted at their annual meeting to support a controversial proposal to temporarily waive intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines, the latest bid to widen distribution to low and middle-income countries. The show of support comes amid growing anxiety that a large swath of the world’s population will remain vulnerable to the coronavirus and its variants. At the outset of the pandemic, wealthy nations raced to sign deals with vaccine makers and now account for nearly half of the 12.2 billion doses locked up in purchase agreements, according to the Duke Global Health Innovation Center. (Silverman, 6/16)
CNBC: Novartis CEO Outlines How Best To Prepare For The Next Pandemic
The chief executive of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Wednesday outlined how policymakers and the health industry can learn from the coronavirus crisis to improve pandemic preparedness. “Pandemics have been with us for centuries. If you go back into the recorded history, probably on the order of 15 pandemics in the last 200 to 300 years. And, so pandemics periodically happen, and they are probably bound to happen again in the future,” Novartis CEO Dr. Vas Narasimhan told Julianna Tatelbaum at the virtual CNBC Evolve Global Summit. (Meredith, 6/16)
